


Of Old Friends and New Foes

by glockgal



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:42:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22603405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glockgal/pseuds/glockgal
Summary: Mandalorian Din Djarin is surprised to see Cara Dune, especially when she starts asking suspicious questions about the Armourer.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Cara Dune, Din Djarin & The Armourer, Din Djarin & The Child
Comments: 14
Kudos: 88





	Of Old Friends and New Foes

**Author's Note:**

> I just hope Season 2 brings more of the Armourer back and more interaction between Cara and the Armourer. There's so much about Din's relationship with the Armourer that fascinates me. I know some people speculate that she's a matriarch figure who helped raise Din, but I believe their relationship is more about peers and friendship, than mentor and student (I'd say Master-Padawan but don't want to make Jedi comparisons for Mandalorians!)
> 
> Anyway I'm not well-versed in Star Wars other than the original 3, Rogue One, and the Mandalorian show, so if there are things I got wrong, please forgive me.
> 
> \----

It didn't take long for Cara Dune to cross paths with the Mandalorian again.

And although Din kept himself on track, on the hunt for this supposed band of enemy sorcerers that the child belonged to, he was grateful to find Cara here, at a random bar in some fun brawl on some backwater mini-moon. Din was glad for to see her, excited even. He wasn't as much of a lone wolf as he pretended to be; when he was with the guild, at least he could return to Navarro on the regular, and spend time in the enclave with the other Mandalorians.

Or no, mostly he just spent time with the Armourer, using some repair work as an excuse to remain in her smithery. They didn't always talk, but Din knew the Armourer liked his company even if it was just hours of work and silence between them.

But with the enclave dissolved and with Din still disowned by the bounty hunter guild, he ended up spending a lot of time alone. Sure, he had the child to look after but a baby wasn't a particularly good conversationalist. For the first few days alone with it, he'd tried to teach it some words. "This" and "the" and "way". If they had to be a clan of two, then Din figured he should start with the basics. The child either couldn't grasp speech, or didn't care. It just gurgled and giggled, and held his finger, then fell backwards in its pram. 

It also ate. A lot.

The stop at the moon was to pick up supplies - the usual energy pods and fuel, and also now food for the baby - it was quiet and out of the way, and Din intended to just stop for a day or so. Even though the bounty hunters were no longer interested his quarry, and Moff Gideon was now - dead? Yes, he must be dead, he had to be. But damn, Din realized he really should've checked the tie-fighter to confirm, or told Cara and Greef to check - but Din wasn't letting go of his paranoia anytime soon. The child was valuable, and Din stayed alert as much as he could. No more surprises.

But to find Cara beating the poodoo out of some Aqualish thug when Din was least expecting to see her, was a surprise he could handle, even welcome. He stayed in the back of the dim bar, feet up on the table as he watched her. The child stayed in its pram, and squealed when it spotted Cara.

"She's a friend," Din reminded the baby as he pointed at her, just in case it forgot. The child blinked impassively at him in return. When the fight was over (Cara won, of course. That Aqualish didn't stand a chance), Din commed her from where he was.

"Mando!" she exclaimed when his call came through her arm band. She was panting, flushed and thrumming from the heat of the fight. "You doing okay?"

"I've been worse," Din replied, amusing himself as he watched her grab a drink at the bar, not realizing he was in the same place she was. Cara gave the barmaid a wink, and no credits were exchanged. "Just wondering what you're up to. Figured I could use your help."

"Me and Greef are doing our thing, you know. Getting things reorganized," Cara replied breathlessly. Under Din's helmet, he frowned at her response. Greef Karga was no where to be seen, and it sounded to him like Cara was implying that she was still on Navarro. That she was currently working together on-planet with Greef, at this moment. "It's going well. Your friend disappeared completely, the smith? We went back to the underground and she was gone - her kiln, everything."

"Yeah," Din said, suddenly not sure he should say anything about the Armourer and the way she worked. He sat up, legs off the table as he leaned forward. "Look to your left."

He could see the way Cara's arm tensed, the bounce of her tricep before she turned. Din saluted, and Cara stared at him for a moment before she laughed and slapped the commlink on her arm band. She sauntered over and Din stood up, with the luxury of a masked man studying her open face. She couldn't see the frown on his, as he peered at her eyes, the curve of her mouth, the apples of her cheeks. She was genuinely pleased to see him, that much was certain.

Din relaxed slightly.

"You nerf herder! Making me think you were half a solar system away," Cara exclaimed, grabbing Din's hand and giving him a hearty pat with her other hand.

"I thought the same thing about you," Din replied, patting her as well. He sat down again, and Cara threw herself into her chair, giving the child a little wave. A cautious wave. "What're you doing here, Cara?"

"Hello you," Cara said to the child, who watched her and blinked, its little fingers curved around the edge of the pram. Din resisted the urge to reach out and let it curl its tiny hand around his finger again. "I'm meeting someone here. I don't have much contacts anymore - for my safety as much as theirs - but I think this guy can help me and Greef with flushing out any Imperial stragglers on Navarro. If Karga's willing to pay the price. Maybe find something more about Moff Gideon in the process..." Cara drank heavily from her mug, wiping her mouth before she added, "He's alive, Mando. I'm sorry."

"Me too," Din replied. The news was disturbing, but Din also relaxed a bit more. Because Cara's story seemed valid, and after everything they'd been through, Din wanted no reason _not_ to trust Cara. She'd put her life on the line for him, more than once. She'd refused to let him die. This is the way, but it wasn't _her_ way. He looked over at the child though, remembering its fear, and the chokehold it put on Cara just because of their little game. Did it know something that he didn't? Or was it just being...protective?

He thought about Greef's parting words: 'Or maybe, it'll take care of you'. Under his mask, Din smiled.

"So the Mando smith, is she --"

"She's called the Armourer," Din gently corrected, sitting back and weaving his fingers together across his belt. In the pram, the child jabbed its little fingers together over its tummy, and flopped back into the soft bundle of blankets. "She's...a good friend of mine."

A friend, just like Cara Dune was his friend. It was ironic, how the child had never considered the Armourer a danger, even though technically the child was an enemy to all Mandalorians. They'd met under strained circumstances, and the child was injured from its...magic-doing. Perhaps that was why it had felt no threat from the Armourer. 

Cara looked curious, but it was obvious she was trying to hide it as she took another drink. "So you don't think she's on Navarro anymore? It can't be easy to haul a kiln like that around, and all her supplies...." Cara fell silent, and Din didn't try to fill that silence. Eventually Cara spoke again. "She'd been gathering the other Mando armour. To sell it or to reuse it? For who?"

"Is Greef trying to recruit more Mandalorians to rebuild the guild?" Din asked, instead of answering any of Cara's questions. In a way, his own question was the answer to all of hers. He kept his words casual, but under his mask, his jaw twitched and clenched as he stared at Cara. Why was she so interested in the Armourer? "He'll get no luck with her. She's not interested in bounty hunter jobs. She's a warrior, but she's a builder. We - we grew up together, in the Tribe." Din saw no harm in talking about the past. After Moff Gideon had spilled so many secrets for them and Din then filled in the rest, he figured now there was no need to be mysterious with Cara. The damage had already been done - Cara knew he was a foundling, knew why he hated droids, knew his real name. 

He did appreciate that she still called him 'Mando' and not Din, though. Cara was always good like that.

"She's a good friend," Din repeated, before he realized that he'd already said that. He had the luxury then of thinking of their time together, growing up together. The Armourer had always been solemn, stalwart. She had a cutting, dry, amusing sense of humour though, and a confident, moralistic kindness about her that sometimes Din envied. He tried to be kind, but it could be so difficult sometimes. He looked over at the child - now asleep, or meditating, Din wasn't sure - and his tight jaw relaxed into a smile.

"So you know what she looks like, under her helmet?" Cara asked, still curious. She didn't seem to mind that he dodged answering about the Armourer's current whereabouts. In fact, Cara seemed to light up when he spoke about their childhood together, her dark eyes shining as if she was enraptured by a well-told tale. 

"I've only seen her face once, when we were young. And she saw me as well - that was the last time. I wouldn't know what she looked like now. I mean, I don't know if I'd recognize her," Din replied, tilting his head in puzzlement when he saw Cara sigh lightly, under her breath.

"I'll bet you she's..." Cara started to say, but the shock-trooper seemed to catch herself at the last minute. She buried her face in her cup, draining it dry. "Well, I just hope she's still alive. She seemed like a really...sensible person." 

It was a strangely accurate description of the Armourer. Din believed she'd consider it quite the compliment, especially coming from someone as competent as Cara Dune. Not knowing how to respond, Din nodded slowly and fell back on the handy mantra, "This is the way."

"Well, anyway. I should go make my contact now. I'm sure you don't want to be introduced to any strangers while you're gathering supplies, huh," Cara said, standing up. She had gleaned why he was here without asking; Din wasn't surprised. Over the idyllic the days they'd spent on Sargon in the fishing village, he'd learned just how quick and insightful Cara's mind was, a handy counterpoint to the sheer strength and bulk of her muscles. Enemies probably took one look at her and expected her to just be a lunkhead bruiser; Din liked to imagine Cara quickly dissuaded them of that stereotype. 

It reminded him of how much the Armourer shattered assumptions about her skill and aptitude, when they were growing up. Their trainers had put a hammer in her hand, and a blaster in his, and neither of them looked back. 

He shook his head to clear the cobwebs of childhood, and in reply to Cara. Din stood up as well. "Yes. We should get going too," he said, looking down at the little one. Its mouth was open, and Din couldn't resist thumbing the tine bead of drool gathering around one corner of its face. His touch was so gentle, the baby didn't even stir. 

"Yeah. Well if you ever hear from the Armourer again, tell her I said hi? And tell her I'd like to - all I mean is - errg, why is this so hard -" Cara started, then stopped herself in a growl, then looked flushed. As flushed as she looked when she was fighting, only this was different. 

Din stared at her incredulously, when he realized: Alliance Shocktrooper veteran-turned-bounter-hunter Carasynthia Dune was _blushing_. 

Cara wasn't information-gathering about the Armourer for any nefarious reason. It dawned slowly on Din as he stood there, unmoving, watching Cara suffer through her stammered words. She was asking after the Armourer because Cara was...

The baby was awake suddenly, and it chirruped as if prompting Din to take action. He was the only one who could save Cara from herself right now, and he took a sudden, slightly awkward step forward. As if he was about to reach out and hold Cara's arm; fortunately, he stopped short of touching her like that

"If I hear from her," Din nodded firmly. And then in some strange compulsion, with a wave of affection for both the solemn little girl he'd grown up with on Mandalore, and the uncompromising shock trooper blushing before him, he cleared his throat and added, "I think you two would be friends as well. She'd...like you."

Cara said nothing, but the relief on her face was palpable. There was a double-edged benefit to wearing the Mandalorian mask. One - people couldn't see his face. And two - people didn't have to see his face, when they didn't want to. Cara wouldn't want to see his expression right now, it would only embarrass her further. He could glean that much even if he was slow on so much else. Din tapped on his arm band, and the pram slowly skimmed towards him.

"Until next time," he said to Cara.

"Works for me, Mando. You too, little one."

The child cooed and waved at Cara, and Din smiled down at it. 

He was happy to see his friend.


End file.
